Patty 咆哮法國大使館全紀錄－England, Taiwan and China

話說, Patty爲了5/28 要帶領手帕交們前進巴黎血拼兼品嚐道地法國料理. 於是Patty在前一個晚上熬夜申請工作熬到半夜三點 (P1) 才上床睡覺, 睡不到3個小時的情況下, 在早上六點起床, 前往倫敦法國大使館申請 "申根簽證".

到了使館之後, 不意外地, 首先映入眼簾的是"峰峰相連到天邊" 的 "人龍". Patty跟老公就排人龍的最末端囉. 到了差不多10:20am, 通過兩次安檢後, 終於緩緩的移動到使館裡面. 繳了錢, 領到號碼牌, 就如同囚犯一般的坐在椅子上開始漫長的等待. 還有一個人所幸把包包放在腦後, 直接躺平就在使館裡面睡起覺來了. (Patty下次也要如法炮製!!) 有些人專心的看著小說, 有些文件沒備齊, 打電話尋求解決方法. 有些在聊天, 有些人在counter跟 officer吵起來, 而且堅持要見supervisor.

經過了5個多小時漫長的等待之後, 終於輪到我們了.

Officer: Can I have your passport, please.

Frank: Yes. (把Passport給她)

Officer: Can I have your school letter, please.

Frank: Yes. (把school letter給他)

Officer: Do you have a copy of school letter?

(網站上並沒有說他們不能keep original document, 而且之前申請簽證正版的bank statement也都有收走!)

Frank: no, but you can keep this letter.

Officer: I'm sorry, we are not allowed to keep original document.

Frank: why?

Officer: It's our regulation. There is nothing I can do for you and I'm not going to issue your VISA today.

Patty 一聽到這裡, 就開始緊張起來了[不會吧, 如果今天沒拿到簽證, 去不了是小事, 但是住宿跟船票通通都定好了, 而且還起了個大早浪費一天像個 Prisoner 一樣被關在embassy裡一天不就都白關了!!, 不行.....我一定要拿到簽證!!] 所以腦袋就開始想要怎麼補救. Patty 馬上拿著School letter 到後面找Security.

Patty: Excuse me, I'm having a small problem here. I need to go out to photocopy this letter. Can you pass both letters to my husband over there after I come back? I promise, I wont come in. (法國使館規定, 人一但出去就不能再進來了.)

Security 根本還沒等我把話講完, 就跟我說: Listen to me, Miss. Are you going to listen to me?
(Patty實在是很急, 而且哪有人不聽我把話講完就打斷我的話, 還說要幫我!!) If you dont listen to me, we wont be able to help you. (Patty終於把上面那句話講完了!)

Security: I'm sorry, we are not allowed to do that, or we will get fired.

Patty(聲音漸漸放大): I only need to get a copy of original school letter. (這時候我看到後面有一台Fax machine,) or can you help me to photocopy this letter by fax machine?

Security: No, we cant do that the machine is connected to insurance company, and it can only be used for the purpose of insurance.

Patty: Why not? I have friends coming over from America and Taiwan, we booked everything already, and we need to go to Paris this coming Sunday.

Security: I'm afraid that there is nothing I can do for you. You would need to make an emergency appointment for your VISA.

這時我回到老公身邊, 老公跟我說, 他有兩封original school letter. 我說, 你show給他看, 跟他說你有兩封信. 結果, officer看到我們有兩封original letter, 她就拿走一封了. 於是我們的VISA就在有驚無險的情況下拿到了.

(但是我還是很氣. 氣他們的不通情理, 氣他們的高傲. 去他們國家花錢, 申請VISA還機車成這樣!! 本來想建議他們可以在裡面放一台Photocopy machine. They can charge whatever they want. 但是Patty實在是很生氣, 氣到不想再跟她們講話, 所以這個建議就沒說. 以後不要再辦法簽了, 實在是氣死人)